Chapter 167: THE EMPIRE’S FIRST FOOD DELIVERY SERVICE
“RUTO, do you recognize me?” Neoma asked Ruto as soon as she arrived at the tea room where he was waiting for her. “I mean, do you recognize my voice?”
After her lunch with Ruto, she immediately went back to her room.
Thankfully, the potion that Madam Hammack made for her was already done. Stephanie helped her changed into a simple dress. After that, she rushed to the room. Before she left Ruto a while ago, she asked him to wait for ‘Miss Ramsay’ in the team room.
She had to send him back to her palace because she couldn’t be seen by other people dressed like that.
Plus, I have a meeting with Teacher Belmont in twenty minutes.
“Thankfully, I do,” Ruto said, cutting off her thoughts. She noticed that he was standing in the middle of the room even though there was tea on the table. “Thank you for making time for me, Miss White Radish.”
“My name is Miss Ramsay,” Neoma corrected him firmly. “Have you forgotten my name already? I thought you were only bad with faces, Mr. Black Soybean.”
.....
“For someone who’s so tiny, you’re full of anger.”
She just rolled her eyes at him.
To be honest, she didn’t know why her mental age regresses every time she was with Ruto. Was it because he always manages to hurt her ego? Thus, her pettiness comes out.
“Now that I’ve seen your face, I’ll leave now,” he said, shocking her.
“What?” she asked in disbelief. “You asked me to come here just to see my face?”
“I need to see you as often as I can to perfectly remember every single detail about you,” he reasoned. “Or else, I won’t recognize you. But don’t be upset. As a token of gratitude for making time for me, I have a gift for you,” he said, then he picked up the small box on the table. “Give your hand to me.”
Before she could even think about what she was doing, she already extended her hand to him.
Gosh, what’s happening to me?
“Here,” the young chef said, then he put the small box in her hands. “I made white chocolate truffles for you.”
Her ears perked up at that.
After all, she loved sweets.
“Thank you, Ruto,” she said, then she excitedly opened the box to see what kind of chocolates did he prepare for her. As soon as she saw the six weirdly shaped white chocolate truffles inside, she glared at the little bastard. “Are these radish-shaped white chocolate truffles?”
“Cute, aren’t they?”
She opened her mouth to complain.
But much to her shock, Ruto quickly picked up one white chocolate truffle, then he put it in her mouth.
Wow, it tastes divine!
Although the chocolates looked weird, they tasted excellent. It melted in her mouth deliciously. She was instantly reminded of the expensive chocolates that she used to indulge back in her second life.
“Okay, you’re forgiven,” she said. “These chocolates taste good. Thank you.”
“I’m glad that you liked them,” he said, then he pulled out a pocket watch from the pocket of his suit. “I need to go now since I’m summoned by His Majesty.”
By Papa Boss?
“It was nice seeing you again, Miss White Radish,” Ruto said, then he ruffled her hair. “Ring me up when you’re hungry and I’ll send you food right away.”
Neoma tilted her head at one side while fixing her hair with one hand. “How do I ring you up?”
***
“LEWIS, OPEN your mouth,” Neoma said to her son, who stood beside her office desk, while holding the last piece of the radish-shaped white chocolate that Ruto gave her a while ago. She was now in her office and dressed as ‘Prince Nero’ again. Her meeting with Teacher Belmont regarding the current state of the Sword Lily Foundation just ended. And now, she was just waiting for her new guest to arrive. “Try this.”
Lewis opened his mouth without hesitation.
She put the chocolate candy in his mouth and watched her son’s reaction.
As expected, Lewis’s face instantly lit up after eating the chocolate in one bite.
“It was good, wasn’t it?” she asked excitedly.
Her son began to nod eagerly.
“Ruto made it for me.”
Lewis suddenly shook his head firmly. “It tastes awful.”
She just laughed it off.
Then, she picked up the box. She was about to call Stephanie and ask her to put it in the room when suddenly, she heard something move inside the box.
What is it?
She put the box down on the table and opened it. Now that the chocolates were gone, she realized that it was a two-level box. When she lifted the first layer, she was surprised to find a necklace with a small pocket watch as a pendant.
But of course, it wasn’t an ordinary piece of jewelry.
“This is a Communicator Device,” she said in disbelief. “This is quite expensive even for a rich household.”
It was quite different from the Communicator Device that she and Nero had before. That one was a big pocket watch with a “camera/video” function. That model was still the most expensive and most advanced Communicator in the empire.
On the other hand, the necklace with a Communicator Device as a pendant that Ruto gave her, only had a “call” function. Upon checking the “contact list” of the pocket watch, only the number ‘9’ had a spirit stone in it.
Ah, this Communicator is already connected to Ruto’s Communicator.
“So this is what he meant when he told me to ring him up when I’m hungry, huh?” Neoma said, amused. “Does Ruto want me to treat him like a food delivery service or something?”
***
“ARE YOU going to leave the empire soon?” Nikolai asked Ruston Stroganoff, who stood in front of him, bluntly. He summoned the young chef in his office after he heard from Glenn that this little ruffian asked Neoma to meet ‘Miss Ramsay’ earlier. He wanted to know why the elusive boy suddenly took interest in his daughter’s “disguise.’ For some reason, it was pissing him off. “I heard you were accepted by Winslow Institute of Culinary Education.”
During the last night of the Moon Festival, he summoned Ruston Stroganoff to talk about that. But they weren’t able to start their conversation because he felt Neoma’s presence then.
Now, he summoned the young chef to discuss that matter again.
“I asked the institute to postpone my enrollment for a year, Your Majesty,” Ruston Stroganoff said politely. “I’ll stay in the Royal Kitchen for the meantime.”
“That’s great,” he said while nodding his head. Although he was annoyed by the fact that Ruston Stroganoff seemed to have taken a liking to Neoma, he still wouldn’t kick him out of the Royal Palace. “I’m not comfortable sending a genius like you to a foreign country. I only allowed you to polish your culinary skills outside the empire because you promised that you’d return in two years.”
“What if I say I want to travel to the East after I get my degree in the institute, Your Majesty?”
“I won’t allow you to do so. You need to return as soon as possible,” he said firmly, then he raised a brow at the young chef. “There’s a reason why the position of the Commander of the Order of the White Lion Knights is still open, Ruston Stroganoff. In ten years’ time, I want you to lead the royal knights.”
Everyone who knew Ruston Stroganoff wouldn’t dare to question his decision.
Even Glenn, who should have been the new commander when Gavin Quinzel died, wouldn’t complain if Ruston Stroganoff took that position many years from now.
That was how rare the young chef’s Mana was.
Ruston Stroganoff lowered his gaze as if he didn’t want to see the expectation in his eyes. “Your Majesty, I don’t want to be a knight.”
He already heard that many times, thus, he was no longer surprised.
“Are you really contented on being a chef, Ruston Stroganoff?” he asked the young chef. “You and your father are both insane for working in the Royal Kitchen when your house has the status of a marquis.”
Yes, Morton Stroganoff was a rich marquis. And yet, he decided to live quietly as his Head Chef. Even his son, Ruston Stroganoff, who was regarded as a genius for his ridiculous amount of Mana, decided to live in silence.
He wouldn’t let Ruston Stroganoff remain a Royal Chef forever though.
He’s someone that this empire would need someday.
“I have a dream, Your Majesty.”
Ah, that was the first time the young chef opened up to him.
“And what is your dream?”
“I want to have my own restaurant someday, Your Majesty,” Ruston Stroganoff said, then he raised his head to bravely meet his gaze. Surprisingly, the young chef’s usual disinterested look on his eyes was replaced by determination. “I want to build a restaurant that will serve delicious, healthy, and affordable food for the commoners. I’m tired of feeding the rich.”
It was funny to hear that from a twelve-year-old boy as if he had been cooking for a long time. He even sounded exhausted when he said those words.
“What a simple dream for someone of your caliber to have, Ruston Stroganoff,” he said, his eyes now glowing red because he didn’t like that the young chef reminded him of Neoma’s dream of a “leisure life.” “Why is it that people with such potentials are the ones who want a “simple and quiet” life?”
The young chef remained silent.
“I have one more question for you, Ruston Stroganoff,” he said. “Do you plan to have a political marriage in the future? You’re already at the age where your family starts looking for a potential bride for you.”
It was normal for the heirs of noble households to get engaged at Ruston Stroganoff’s age.
Since the young chef was one of his most important chess pieces, it was his duty to be involved in his private life. He also didn’t want to do this, but he had to. House Stroganoff was an ally to the Royal Family. He couldn’t let just any lady enter that family as Ruston Stroganoff’s wife.
“Your Majesty, I don’t intend to inherit my father’s title.”
“What?”
“If I become the next marquis of House Stroganoff, I will lose the freedom to choose my own wife,” Ruston Stroganoff said firmly. “I want to live a simple and quiet life, Your Majesty.”
Nikolai pinched the bridge of his nose. “You remind me too much of a little rogue that I know, Ruston Stroganoff.”
.....
***
“JASPER Oppa!” Neoma greeted the young Duke Jasper Hawthorne as soon as she entered the private tea room where her Oppa was waiting. Since the young duke requested to have an audience with her, she asked Lewis to guard outside the room. Tate, Jasper Hawthorne’s butler, was also outside (and he seemed traumatized by Lewis). “It’s been a while, huh?”
Jasper smiled and politely bowed to her. “Greetings to the First Star of the Great Moonasterion Empire.”
“You don’t have to be formal since there’s only the two of us here, and this room is soundproof as well,” she said, then she sat on the sofa opposite her Oppa’s. “I didn’t expect you to visit me since you said it’s dangerous for us to meet like this.”
“I have to see you now, Princess Neoma,” he said, then he sat on the sofa. “I’m here to say goodbye to you.”
To say that she was shocked to hear that would be an understatement.
“You’re leaving, Oppa?” Neoma asked, blinking several times in disbelief. “How about our plan?”
“Precisely the reason why I need to leave the Royal Capital,” Jasper said seriously. “Princess Neoma, I’ve already made contact with the slave traders.”
***
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